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Elon Reeve Musk (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a prominent entrepreneur and investor, celebrated for his significant contributions to the aerospace firm SpaceX and the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Inc. Additionally, he owns X Corp., previously known as Twitter, and has been instrumental in founding The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. As of June 2024, Forbes has assessed his wealth at an estimated US$214 billion, making him one of the richest individuals globally.
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria and is part of the South African Musk family. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada at 18, gaining citizenship through his Canadian-born mother. After two years, he enrolled at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics. In 1995, Musk relocated to California to attend Stanford University but left after just two days. He then co-founded Zip2, an online city guide software company, with his brother Kimbal. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in 1999. That same year, Musk co-founded X.com, an online bank that later merged with Confinity to become PayPal. In October 2002, eBay purchased PayPal for $1.5 billion. Using $100 million of his earnings from the PayPal sale, Musk established SpaceX, a spaceflight services company, in 2002.
In 2004, Elon Musk became an early investor in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.). He was appointed the company’s chairman and product architect, later assuming the role of CEO in 2008. Musk played a key role in establishing SolarCity, a solar energy services company, in 2006; Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016, transforming it into Tesla Energy. In 2013, Musk introduced the concept of the hyperloop, a high-speed vactrain transportation system. He co-founded the nonprofit artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI in 2015. The following year, he co-founded Neuralink, a company focused on developing brain-computer interface technology, as well as The Boring Company, which specializes in tunnel construction. In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk over claims that he had misleadingly stated he had secured funding to take Tesla private. As part of the settlement, Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman and paid a $20 million fine. In 2022, Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, later merging it into the newly established X Corp. and rebranding the platform as X in 2023. Additionally, in March 2023, Musk founded an artificial intelligence company named xAI.
Elon Musk is known for expressing controversial views, making him a polarizing figure. He has faced criticism for disseminating unscientific and misleading information, particularly regarding COVID-19, and for comments that seemed to endorse antisemitic conspiracy theories, for which he later apologized. His acquisition and management of Twitter have also sparked controversy, with significant layoffs, a surge in hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation on the platform, as well as changes to the Twitter Blue verification system.
Early life and education
Childhood and family
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa. He has a mixed heritage, including British and Pennsylvania Dutch roots. His mother, Maye Musk (née Haldeman), hails from Saskatchewan, Canada, and works as a model and dietitian. She was raised in South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African with a diverse career as an electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, emerald dealer, and property developer. Errol also co-owned a rental lodge at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. Elon has two siblings: a younger brother named Kimbal and a younger sister named Tosca. Additionally, he has four half-siblings from his father’s side.
Elon Musk grew up in a prosperous family. Although both Elon and his father, Errol, had earlier claimed that Errol co-owned an emerald mine in Zambia, Errol clarified in 2023 that his actual agreement involved receiving a share of the emeralds from three small mines. Errol Musk also served on the Pretoria City Council as a member of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and has mentioned that his children inherited his opposition to apartheid.
Elon’s maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, was originally from the United States but became a Canadian citizen. Haldeman was known for embarking on record-breaking expeditions to Africa and Australia with his family in a single-engine Bellanca airplane. He passed away when Elon was still a toddler.
Elon has memories of attending a wilderness school, or “veldskool,” which he characterized as a “paramilitary Lord of the Flies” environment. At this school, bullying was considered a virtue, and children were encouraged to fight over their food rations.
Following his parents’ divorce in 1980, Elon Musk decided to live with his father, a decision he later came to regret, leading to their estrangement. One significant incident involved Elon being thrown down concrete steps and severely beaten by a fellow student and his friends, resulting in hospitalization. Upon being discharged, Elon recalled his father berating him for an hour, calling him an idiot and worthless. After this traumatic event, Elon was enrolled in a private school.
Elon was an avid reader, crediting much of his later success to books such as “The Lord of the Rings,” the “Foundation” series, and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” At ten, he developed a keen interest in computing and video games, teaching himself to program using the VIC-20 user manual. By age twelve, he had created a BASIC-based game called Blastar, which he sold to PC and Office Technology magazine for about $500.
Education
Musk’s educational journey began at Waterkloof House Preparatory School, followed by Bryanston High School, and later Pretoria Boys High School, where he graduated. During his schooling, Musk was considered a good but not outstanding student, receiving a 61 in Afrikaans and a B on his senior math certification.
Seeking a path to the United States, Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother, understanding it would facilitate his immigration. While awaiting approval, he briefly attended the University of Pretoria for five months.
In June 1989, Musk arrived in Canada and connected with a second cousin in Saskatchewan. He took on various jobs, including working at a farm and a lumber mill. By 1990, he enrolled at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Two years later, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution located in Philadelphia. There, he pursued and eventually earned dual degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and a Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School of Business. Despite Musk’s statement that he completed his degrees in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania officially conferred them in 1997. During his time at Penn, Musk reportedly organized sizable, ticketed house parties to help cover his tuition expenses and drafted a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service, similar to what would later become Google Books.
In 1994, Elon Musk embarked on his career in Silicon Valley with two notable internships. One was at Pinnacle Research Institute, a startup focused on energy storage, where he worked on electrolytic ultracapacitors. The second internship was at Rocket Science Games, based in Palo Alto, where he gained insights into the burgeoning field of interactive entertainment and gaming.
The following year, in 1995, Musk was admitted to a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University. However, he made the pivotal decision not to enroll, opting instead to immerse himself in the rapidly expanding realm of the Internet. Eager to capitalize on the burgeoning opportunities of the Internet boom, Musk applied for a position at Netscape, a prominent technology company at the time. Despite his application, he reportedly never received a response from Netscape.
This period marked Musk’s early ventures into the tech industry, setting the stage for his future endeavors in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Business career
Zip2
Main article: Zip2
In 1995, Elon Musk, along with his brother Kimbal Musk and Greg Kouri, co-founded Global Link Information Network, which was later rebranded as Zip2. Starting with an initial investment of $28,000 ($56,000 in 2023 dollars) from their father, Errol Musk, the company aimed to revolutionize local information services on the internet. Zip2 developed an innovative internet city guide offering maps, directions, and yellow pages, which they marketed to newspapers across the United States.
Operating out of a modest rented office in Palo Alto, Elon Musk dedicated himself to coding the website every night, tirelessly refining its features and functionality. Their efforts paid off when Zip2 secured lucrative contracts with prominent publications like The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, establishing itself as a key player in the digital mapping and local search market.
Despite early successes, Zip2 faced pivotal decisions about its future trajectory. When a proposed merger with CitySearch was on the table, Elon and Kimbal Musk successfully persuaded the board of directors to abandon the merger, opting instead to pursue independent growth strategies. However, Elon Musk’s ambitions to assume the role of CEO were ultimately thwarted by the board’s decisions.
In a pivotal moment for the company, Compaq Computer Corporation recognized Zip2’s potential and acquired it outright for an impressive $307 million in cash in February 1999. Elon Musk, holding a 7-percent stake in Zip2, received $22 million from the acquisition, marking a significant financial success early in his entrepreneurial career. This windfall provided Musk with the capital and confidence to pursue even more ambitious ventures in the years to come.
X.com and PayPal
Main articles: X.com (bank), PayPal, and PayPal Mafia
In March 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an innovative online financial services and email payment company, utilizing $12 million from his earnings following the Compaq acquisition. X.com quickly distinguished itself as one of the earliest federally insured online banks, attracting over 200,000 customers within its initial months of operation.
Despite early successes, Musk encountered skepticism from friends regarding the company’s name, with concerns that it could be misconstrued as a pornographic site. Musk dismissed these apprehensions, emphasizing the name’s clarity, memorability, and ease of typing. He also appreciated the simplicity it brought to email configurations, such as “e@x.com.”
However, despite being the company’s founder, Musk faced challenges in gaining credibility with investors who perceived him as inexperienced. By the end of the year, Musk was replaced by Bill Harris, the CEO of Intuit, due to concerns over his leadership capabilities.
In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity, an online bank known for its popular money-transfer service, PayPal, to consolidate resources and avoid market competition. Musk returned as CEO following the merger. His preference for Microsoft software over Unix-based systems caused internal friction and contributed to co-founder Peter Thiel’s decision to resign from Confinity.
Despite efforts to integrate the companies and streamline operations, X.com struggled with technical issues and a lack of cohesive business strategy. In September 2000, Musk was ousted by the board of directors, and Peter Thiel resumed leadership as CEO. Under Thiel’s direction, the company focused on expanding its money-transfer service, ultimately rebranding as PayPal in 2001.
The evolution of X.com into PayPal marked a significant turning point, solidifying its position as a leading platform for online payments and paving the way for Elon Musk’s future ventures in the tech and financial sectors.
In 2002, eBay acquired PayPal in a landmark deal valued at $1.5 billion in stock. Elon Musk, PayPal’s largest shareholder with an 11.72% stake, received $175.8 million from the acquisition. This transaction marked a significant financial success for Musk, reinforcing his reputation as a pioneering entrepreneur in the digital payments industry.
Fast forward to 2017, over 15 years since the PayPal acquisition, Elon Musk made a nostalgic move by purchasing the X.com domain from PayPal. Despite its practical purpose, the acquisition was driven by sentimental value, reflecting Musk’s deep-rooted connection to the origins of his entrepreneurial journey.
Looking ahead to 2022, Elon Musk publicly discussed his ambitious vision of creating “X, the everything app.” This concept represents Musk’s aspiration to integrate various functionalities and services into a single, cohesive platform. By leveraging his experience and insights gained from founding X.com (which later became PayPal), Musk aims to innovate and streamline user experiences across multiple domains, potentially revolutionizing digital interactions and services on a global scale.
SpaceX
Main article: SpaceX
In early 2001, Elon Musk deepened his involvement with the nonprofit Mars Society, discussing ambitious plans to fund the placement of a growth chamber for plants on Mars. This initiative aimed to advance humanity’s potential for sustainable colonization beyond Earth. Later that year, Musk embarked on a significant journey to Moscow alongside Jim Cantrell and Adeo Ressi, with the intent to purchase refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of transporting greenhouse payloads into space. Their meetings with Russian aerospace companies NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras, however, revealed Musk’s relative inexperience in the space industry, resulting in the group returning to the United States without securing a deal.
Undeterred, Musk persisted in his quest to enable affordable space exploration. In February 2002, he returned to Russia, this time accompanied by Mike Griffin, then President of In-Q-Tel, to explore the purchase of three ICBMs. Despite negotiations with Kosmotras offering a single rocket for $8 million, Musk declined the offer. Instead, he resolved to establish a company capable of manufacturing cost-effective rockets.
In May 2002, armed with $100 million of his funds, Elon Musk founded SpaceX and assumed the roles of CEO and Chief Engineer. SpaceX’s mission was clear: to revolutionize space technology and make space travel more accessible.
SpaceX faced initial challenges, notably with its Falcon 1 rocket. Despite early setbacks, including failed launch attempts that strained the company’s finances, SpaceX persevered. In 2006, the company was awarded a contract under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, a significant endorsement from former SpaceX consultant and NASA Administrator Mike Griffin.
After overcoming technical hurdles and financial strain, SpaceX achieved a milestone in 2008 with the successful launch of the Falcon 1 into orbit. This triumph bolstered SpaceX’s credibility and set the stage for more ambitious projects.
Later in 2008, SpaceX secured a substantial $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract from NASA. This contract involved 12 missions of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), filling the void left by the retired Space Shuttle in 2011.
By 2012, SpaceX made history as its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to dock with the ISS, marking a pivotal achievement in space exploration and solidifying SpaceX’s position as a leader in the aerospace industry.
In pursuit of its vision for reusable rockets, SpaceX achieved a significant milestone in 2015 by successfully landing the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket on an inland platform. This achievement marked a pivotal step towards reducing the cost of space travel by reusing key components of the launch vehicle.
Building on this success, SpaceX further advanced its landing capabilities with subsequent missions, achieving controlled landings on autonomous spaceport drone ships stationed in the ocean. These drone ships served as mobile recovery platforms, enabling SpaceX to recover and refurbish Falcon 9 rocket boosters for future launches.
In 2018, SpaceX made headlines with the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy, a powerful super-heavy-lift launch vehicle. The inaugural mission carried Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster as a symbolic payload, demonstrating the capabilities of the Falcon Heavy and capturing global attention with live images of the car in space.
Since 2019, SpaceX has focused on developing Starship, a next-generation, fully reusable launch vehicle designed to replace both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. Starship represents a leap forward in space transportation technology, aiming to significantly increase payload capacity and enable ambitious missions to destinations like Mars and beyond.
In 2020, SpaceX achieved another historic milestone with the successful launch of its first crewed mission, Demo-2. This mission marked the first time a private company, SpaceX, launched astronauts into orbit and docked a crewed spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS). The success of Demo-2 underscored SpaceX’s capability to safely transport astronauts to and from space, solidifying its role in the future of human space exploration.
Throughout its journey, SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of aerospace innovation, making significant strides towards its goal of making space travel more accessible, and sustainable, and ultimately enabling humanity’s expansion into the cosmos.
Starlink
Main article: Starlink
In 2015, SpaceX embarked on the ambitious development of the Starlink constellation, a network of low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to provide global satellite Internet coverage. The initiative aimed to bridge the digital divide by offering high-speed Internet access to underserved and remote regions around the world. SpaceX launched its first two prototype Starlink satellites in February 2018, marking the beginning of an extensive testing and deployment phase.
A significant milestone occurred in May 2019 with the launch of the first operational batch of 60 Starlink satellites, marking the initial large-scale deployment of the constellation. This deployment was part of a decade-long project estimated to cost SpaceX approximately $10 billion, covering the design, construction, and launch of thousands of satellites.
Despite its technological advancements and benefits, Starlink has faced criticism from various quarters, including the International Astronomical Union. Critics have raised concerns that the dense constellation of satellites could obstruct astronomical observations and pose collision risks to spacecraft in orbit.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Elon Musk took proactive steps by providing humanitarian aid through Starlink. Musk personally oversaw the donation of around 20,000 Starlink satellite terminals to Ukraine, along with free data subscriptions, amounting to an $80 million contribution from SpaceX. Subsequently, Musk sought financial support from the United States Department of Defense to cover additional units and ongoing subscriptions for Ukraine, pledging SpaceX’s commitment to provide Starlink services free of charge, despite an estimated annual cost of $400 million to the company.
Amid these actions, Musk maintained a stance of “free speech absolutism” regarding Starlink, refusing to block Russian state media despite geopolitical tensions. This decision underscored his commitment to unrestricted access to information, even amidst international conflicts.
In a notable instance, Ukraine requested the activation of Starlink satellites over Crimea to support military operations against Russian naval forces in Sevastopol. However, Musk declined the request, citing concerns over potential escalation and the risk of nuclear retaliation from Russia.
Elon Musk’s involvement with Starlink during times of global crisis highlights SpaceX’s dual role in advancing technological innovation and contributing to humanitarian efforts, reshaping the landscape of satellite communications and global connectivity in the process.
